


Opposites Day

by knowyourincantations



Series: Femslash February 2019 [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2019, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hogwarts Eighth Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 05:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17616290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knowyourincantations/pseuds/knowyourincantations
Summary: “It’s opposites day,” Pansy said, settling onto her back on the grass and looking up at the sky. “We’re all supposed to act in contradiction to ourselves. There’s supposed to be a lesson in there somewhere, I’m sure.”





	Opposites Day

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Femslash February 2019, for the prompt 'Opposites'.

“That’s the opposite of going away,” Hermione muttered pointlessly, as Pansy settled on the ground beside her.

“Didn’t you hear?” Pansy asked, craning her neck to look around.

It was pointless. Hermione had chosen this spot by the lake precisely because it was almost completely hidden from sight until you were suddenly upon it. A natural but difficult to see dip in the ground. She couldn’t imagine how Pansy had found her.

“Hear what?” she asked in defeat. There really was no point trying to get her to go away.

Pansy was terrible at doing anything anyone told her to do and absolutely brilliant at doing whatever the hell she wanted, consequences be damned. It was a terrible attitude but still one Hermione found herself envying.

Sometimes she really wished she could just stop thinking ahead to the consequences of her every word and action, stop worrying about what other people think. She wished she could just do what she wanted and be at peace with it.

“It’s opposites day,” Pansy said, settling onto her back on the grass and looking up at the sky. “We’re all supposed to act in contradiction to ourselves. There’s supposed to be a lesson in there somewhere, I’m sure.”

Hermione snorted softly. She didn’t think anyone took the many themed days seriously. It was just a way to make this catch-up year at Hogwarts less stressful for everyone.

“And you’re participating, are you?” she asked, turning and looking her over. She looked exactly the same as usual. The same elegant clothing she always wore under her robes and openly on the weekends. It looked out of place on the grassy bank of the lake.

Pansy smiled. “Why not? See how the other side of me would live.” She gestured at the ground beneath them. “I’d never sit on grass but here I am on opposites day, sitting instead of standing.”

Hermione snorted again. How ridiculous. Still, she doubted Pansy would keep her mouth shut even on ‘opposites day’ and closed the book she was reading, placing it to the side.

“That’s the spirit,” Pansy said. “You’re always reading, so you shouldn’t today.”

It didn’t seem likely that Pansy would leave her be, so Hermione sighed and shifted on the ground, making sure she was as comfortable as she could be even though there was a knot of grass digging into her back.

“And what is the opposite of reading?”

Pansy breathed in deep and then sighed. “Writing maybe?”

“You don’t even know,” Hermione scoffed. “If you’re going to come and bother me with this nonsense, you should have at least planned it better.”

“But that’s the point,” Pansy said, turning and looking at her even though it meant the side of her face was resting on grass. “I usually have a plan when I ‘bother’ you. But today is opposites day. No plans this time.”

Quite ridiculously, Hermione’s pulse picked up. “How unlike you not to think a million steps ahead to perfectly manipulate the moment,” she murmured.

“That’s the point,” Pansy said. “No manipulations here today.”

Hermione scoffed and looked up at the sky again. Everything Pansy did was for her own benefit. For her own amusement and pleasure. Approaching her on this day, using the argument of ‘opposites’, was just another plot to get Hermione’s guard down.

And Merlin help her, it was working like it always did.

Hermione was scanning their surroundings with her senses. Listening out for any indication someone was nearby. But all she heard was the gentle lap of water from the lake. Some birds nearby. She’d left the boys behind on the Quidditch pitch.

They were quite alone.

If she were to follow the instructions of the day, this would be the point she got up and walked away.

No, she always did that anyway, didn’t she? After a point at least, so it would be doing the same thing, just sooner. No. To truly act opposite to her usual self would be to give in without pretence, without the verbal battle that wore down all the useless, insignificant reasons why she told herself she shouldn’t give in.

“I guess I was curious,” Pansy said softly. “What might you do on a day you’re meant to do the opposite of what you normally would? Think the opposite if what you normally think? Without anyone nudging you along the way?”

Hermione inhaled slowly. Her exhale was shaky, choppy, disturbed as she pushed herself up on her elbows until she could lean over and look at Pansy.

“So you want to know what I really _don’t_ want to do?” she asked.

Pansy didn’t move, just stared up at her. “I rather think, for you at least, it would be what you really _do_ want to do, but what you can’t normally allow yourself to do.”

How infuriating. Pansy had been too damn perceptive since the moment they’d all come back to the castle. Using it to say all the right things, do all the right things, until she’d wormed her way into the good graces of everyone who’d used to hate her.

Hermione had never been fooled, but neither had she been immune. Pansy had seen right through her and known exactly what she wanted when no one else had a clue. And she knew just how to get Hermione to act on something she’d rather pretend never existed. Something she always insisted would never happen again.

“Damn you,” she whispered, but she was already leaning down to kiss her.

**Author's Note:**

> I like the idea that sometimes Hermione acts opposite to what she really wants, fights when she really wants to give in. And I love that Idea that Pansy sees it all and calls her out on it.
> 
> I'm kicking off Femslash February, but I doubt I'll do all the days like I did for Sapphic September, as I'm currently working on a 25k minimum Pansmione fic. I'm also not very good with one word prompts, which is the only prompt list I found for the month. But I might as well do as many as I feel inspired for =)


End file.
